WoooHooooo!
The release party was a lot of fun. Thanks for coming everyone. If you didn't make it you're a bum :p
Now I need to set up the "sales page", or rather get Joe to work on it. He still hasn't fixed the calendar yet has he? Nope. Damn. What am I gonna do with that boy? :p
It won't take long. I just have to set up sales with Indyplanet and then he'll link it over. I'll see if we can't have it up this weekend.
The next issue is coming, but not for a while, most of my free time right now is going into wedding planning, but I'll be stockpiling pages when I can and I'll start releasing them incrementally when my schedual evens out a bit more.
Someone pointed out that if the comic were displayed in a rack the title wouldn't be visible. That's fixed now. I reworked the whole layout and tried to improve it with a sense of atmosphere. It seems a little more sedate now though... a little distant... oh well. The new cover will appear in the web release, which should be ready soon. The old cover has been moved here .
We've been hard at work on the script, organising readings and rewrites, as well as building up lore.
This weekend I'm typing up character background sheets objectives for each scene. The next reading will be improv. Hopefully we can get some intertia going and get some off the cuff dialogue. After that another rewrite and one last reading. All the local folks are invited of course. I'll let you know time and date once I have it worked out.
Hi! Yep. The new site is finally up. It's been a long time and I have a lot of new stuff to see.
For those of you who are new to the comic: Welcome! Have questions? Check out the “About” Page.
For those of you returning, I bet you're wondering where all the old pages are. Not to worry. They'll be back eventually, newly reformatted and touched-up a bit.
I now have an open casting call if you'd like to be a character in the comic book. I'm just looking for extras right now, but if you have a good look I might have a bigger part for you.
In other news I'm getting married! Yep. Whodathunkit? We're thinking next fall right now, but it's still somewhat up in the air. I have primary custody of my daughter now too. She'll be starting second grade pretty soon here. So... yeah. Everything is going pretty well for me right now. It's a good feeling :)
Okay. Comics are back up. Plowed through and finished the new pages. That last pannel really kicked my ass.
So now I'm down to one more location for this issue. I've finished modeing the environment but it still needs alot of tweaking. Tough to project an ETA, but I'll get there. I'll put up some WiP shots in the extras section. After the scene is finished it should go pretty quick. Hope you like what you've seen thus far :)
I spent the weekend sifting through all my old hard drives and uploading work in progress content to the EXTRAS page. There you'll find:
- The capital cities for three of the planet's civilizations.
- Designs for fighters, armor, weapons, and creatures.
- Original character tests.
- The first two drafts of the world map.
- One instance of deplorable graphic violence.
- Cassie in a high-tech bikini.
There is still more to find and upload, but I think It's going back burner again until the next few pages are done.
I'm starting to get email regarding the casting call and I've opened a thread in the forums. If you want to be a character please have a look here.
Working on a new cover page. So now the first page is here. Weee! Re-writing history is fun! The old cover is in the extras section now.
I've decided to make the cover art for each issue as photoreal as possible. I'm pretty happy with this one so far :)
I'm finishing up the CG environment for the next sequence. Check out the WiP in the EXTRAS section :)
Now I only have a few things left to do before I can start cranking out pages again. Lets see... I need to model a gas mask for the Fallen and an ice shield for the Elves. I need to dig up some old pictures of the lava tubes in New Mexico, and I need to add and rewrite some dialogue.
I'm still shooting for a Christmas release of the first issue, and I have about ten or fifteen pages to go depending on how I want to pace the battle intro, so that means if I have everything rendered and ready to go by the end of this month, I'll need to be averaging about seven pages a month to have the first issue to the presses by early December. That definitely seems do-able. Cool :)
I'll also need to get Joe to set up the store section of the webpage so you lower 48ers can order hard copy issues too :)
The first of three new pages is up! The other two are basically done and will be posted incrementally.
I was hesitant to use the term "Mutagen " because of the Ninja Turtles referance, but it was the most applicable word. It's a nice, self explanitory word too. I mean, even if you don't know what "Mutagen" is, it's not hard to guess. I will strive in the future to keep the overall campiness down. I mean, it is a comic book, so I can get away with a bit, but too much and well... I'm just not Joss Whedon. I can't pull it off.
The "Teardrop" is still giving me trouble. I either need more RAM, or I need to learn how to properly use object instancing in Maya...
I've never liked page 18, so I've been reworking it panel by panel. Still one panel to go. Once I'm done I'll put the final touches on page 20 which should go up this weekend.
Still plugging away on the next sequence, but at this rate I think I've leveled off at about a page a week.
[edit] Okay. Finished up those changes to page 18. I'm still not thrilled with it, but I think it's a hell of alot better than it was. It has now joined the ranks of the pages I may never be happy with- which right now is about half of everything I finish. How does that saying go? Something about how art is never finished, just abandoned. >shrug< Gotta keep moving forward. Page twenty is on it's way...
I've put up a tutorial on Drunk Duck. It's basically a description of how to make a comic like mine.
The snow is on the ground and the lakes are starting to freeze over. Somehow my girlfriend still thought today would be a good day for a canoe trip!
I'm satisfied to stay inside drinking tea and reading Heinlien.
But maybe she's the smart one. After all I'll have the rest of winter to stay in...
It’s not why you think. “Alaska’s majestic beauty” is all hundreds of miles to the south. On a clear day we can see Denali (McKinley) but Fairbanks is fairly flat. Our needle thin trees receive an imbalanced amount of sunlight and precipitation and are all sickly looking. A forest of Charlie brown Christmas trees. Tourists are often disappointed when they visit Fairbanks, and we like it that way.
It’s not for the Aurora, which is pretty frikin cool, but generally only visible when it’s far too cold outside to sit and watch. It’s not the midnight sun either. Equally cool, but to live here you have to endure the dark winters, so it balances out.
It’s the people. If you come to Fairbanks, not the rest of Alaska mind you, but Fairbanks specifically, and stay more that a year, you’ve been indoctrinated by temperature. You’ve proven yourself to the rest of us, and you’ve earned our unconditional respect.
Fairbanks has a population of 60,000, comprised of a wide spread of different kinds of people, and we do have our warring factions, primarily the snow machiners vs. the dog sledders. We’re a college town, so the overall tone of the city is fairly liberal. We’re also an army town, but the military is mostly ignored as a social influence, as they aren’t here voluntarily (and tend to be very vocal about how unfair it is that they have to be here.)
We have no sense of ego, not as you would define it anyway. Our ego is communal. It’s fair to say we’re proud of our tenacity and pioneer spirit, but we couldn’t care less what you wear or drive or where you live. It doesn’t factor in to our assessment of your worth as an individual.
Our hippies drive pickups and own guns (an average of four per person) Our rednecks smoke pot and use solar power.
Fashion is basically non existent. At -60 you wear what’s warm, not what looks good, and that mentality carries over to the summer months. Thrift stores thrive in Fairbanks.
Our most visually prominent political party is neither Democrat nor Republican, but Libertarian. When we go overseas we usually refer to ourselves as Alaskan rather than American. This has the advantage of disassociation with the the negative aspects of the US (Dubya), but the disadvantage of having to explain that no, you don’t live in an igloo or ride a dig sled to work, something we have to cover when we visit the lower 48 too, where many people don’t know that we’re even part of the country, or think we’re an island next to Hawaii.
Alaska is more than twice the size of Texas, and has the lowest population per square mile of any state, totaling less that one million, most of which live in “Las Anchorage”, which we jokingly refer to as a suburb of Seattle. The drive to Anchorage takes six hours in the summer and as much as twelve hours in the winter. A few tiny towns dot the road in between, and south of Anchorage you’ll find “Majestic Alaska” in the form of Seward, Girdwood and Homer. If you’re planning a visit, that’s where you want to go. Nice towns. Just like any you’d find in the lower 48. Not like Fairbanks.
A month from now spring breakup will begin, and with it we’ll have another batch of real Fairbanksans. The first winter is always the hardest. Many of them won’t have made it, having picked up stakes and moved south. Some of them will stay in Alaska. Many won’t. Those that remained in Fairbanks are in for a treat. Your first breakup is always the best, and now you have a new family to share it with. All 60,000 of us. Pioneers united, welcoming you home for the first time.
My daughter was born in Fairbanks. She’s 8 years old now, growing up in a place where the kids don’t tease or judge. Someday she’ll be a “Sourdough” a title I will never be able to claim, having been born on the outside. Sourdoughs optimize Fairbanks society. They have never been judged by their appearance or wealth. They are as far from your average American as if they had been born in a foreign country. They are the natives and we are the immigrants.
Alaska’s future is uncertain. ANWR, the gas pipeline, and global warming may all bring many new people to Fairbanks, and may change the social dynamic. What I do know, is that Fairbanks is my home. It took me a long time to find it, but I’m finally here, and I plan to stay.
I just spent an hour and a half messing with Motorola's PC phone tools, because they can't be bothered to make their flash memory readable as external storage. It's quite intentional. They want you to email the pictures to yourself so they can charge you .75 cents each. And after two hours I find out the free version of the program that took a half an hour to download over broadband, and another twenty minutes of updates so it could install a bunch of software I don't want is also gimped so I can't remove images with it. No "shareware" warning before started downloading like a decent company would have done, just a missing icon. Not even grayed out. Not there at all. If I want that "feature" I'm gonna have to buy a 50 dollar software suite.
Flash memory is plug and play / drag and drop. Motorola intentionally made their product difficult to use and wasted an hour and a half of my life so they could pitch me more worthless software.
Welcome Motorola, to my personal boycott list. Have fun down there with AOL, Cell One, Wells Fargo and Walmart.
[edit] Toned it down a bit. I was really mad. K'now what's funny? It occured to me that since I used the word "Motorola" it's gonna start showing up on my google ads. I've inadvertantly advertised for them. Bastards always win...
It's 2007 goin on 2008.
We were supposed to have rocket packs by the eighties.
And what about living under domes that control the weather?
We deserve domes. Alaskans especially, could really do with a good dome or two.
Seriously, someone has to be the first to do it, I think it should be Fairbanks. We’ve certainly earned it. I’m starting the “Fairbanks Dome Drive,” just as soon as I get some snow tires...
See? If I had a rocket pack, I wouldn’t need show tires. You scientists need to get on the ball and start inventing some of this stuff. I’m not getting any younger here...
On that note, Page 23 is up.
There will be no new page this weekend (and no filler art because filler art is dumb) as I’m spending the week preparing material for an unsolicited presentation to the owner of the Comic Shop here in Fairbanks,
If you’re reading this Mr. Kevin and/or Mr. Josh, then my entry plan has succeeded and you’ve already seen the completed pages. Please click on “EXTRAS ” to see the other material :)
If my entry plan has failed, please drop the charges. I’m sure whatever I did was completely accidental, and I bet I’m very, very sorry.
Note to self: Revise entry plan. Catapult may be overkill.
In all seriousness, wish me luck folks.
The 1st issue is on it’s way regardless, and I’ve decided on a hefty sum of $4.99. That’s one Rockstar and two Mountain Dews, hell, that’s 20 packets of Ramen! Far too much I know, but don’t worry! I won’t run out and spend it on Rockstar and Ramen (though I might really want to) I will instead put every dime into the purchase of a tablet, printing costs for more runs, and hopefully a trip to the Comic Con. Joe has already offered to cover the plane tickets (though maybe he’s hoping I’d forgotten.) So those of you going to Comic Con ‘09, hopefully I’ll see you there :)
So I talked to the owner and he told me that he doesn't sell local comics :(
...but I got him to look at it and he changed his mind right away :p
He also asked about selling through Diamond, but I think it needs way more polish before I'd even consider something that big, though I think it's dooable.
Thanks for your support everyone. It means alot to me :) Yay!
[edit] So I may detest filler art, but I thought I ought to come up with something to fill the void. Here is an illustrated description of how the Elves make their ICE SHIELDS. They look a bit heart shaped don't they?...
I sold my advertising and bought a tablet. You can see some practice work here.
Working on two more pages, and that will complete the first issue. 25 pages. 32 for those of you in Fairbanks. I'm gonna release a special issue with the local advertising and some extras.
I hope to have the next page up tonight.
[edit] I'm about 90% finished with the last two pages. They'll go up together... tonight maybe?
Page 24 is up. Page 25 later today.
I'm toying with the idea of releasing the next issue as an incremental work in progress. Maybe releasing a few pages of script and story boards and then finishing that batch of pages and then releasing more script and story boards etc.
Don't know though... I'll keep thinking about it...
[edit] Page 25 is finished. And that's it. All done with issue #1. I'm gonna go back over everything with the tablet and polish it but... yeah. Feels good. Feels really good.
Keep an eye on the "store" page. I'll have hard copies available around the end of the month :)
Oh yeah, and expect more WiP material as things ramp up for the second issue.
So all the layout and color correction is finished. I'm adding the last little touches this weekend and it will go to the publisher on the 20th just before I fly out to California to met my girlfriend's ern, I mean my "Fiancé's" parents.
It'll be good to get one source of stress out of the way before I face another. Wish me luck. Hopefully they'll like me :)
For those of you in Fairbanks, FRIDAY DECEMBER 7th at 8pm I'll be having a release party in the UAF PUB. Come on up and say 'Hi." :)
I've sent my order in to Ka-Blam!
Hooray!
I've also updated all the pages with the new (web quality) print versions. The calendar is being weird now though... gonna have Joe take a look at it.
-given the opportunity.
I turned 18 in 1998. The first election I could vote in was Gore vs Bush. I didn’t vote.
I’ve regretted that decision ever since. See, because I didn’t vote, I didn’t feel like I have the right to bitch, and I had a lot of stuff I wanted to bitch about.
The next election I could vote in was Kerry vs Bush. This time I was sure to vote. I didn’t particularly like Kerry. I always felt like he was pandering to me.
Disingenuous. That’s the word, but you know, better than the alternative and all. I was shocked when Bush won again. I’ve been bitching aloud ever since :p
I’ve spent a lot of time reading about Barack Obama recently. I gotta tell you this guy is the first person I’ve even been excited to vote for. I really can’t wait.
I listen to him speak, and I don’t see a politician. I see a scrawny kid on a beach in Hawaii, looking toward the sunset and considering the possibilities.
That’s the American dream folks. We’re a nation of optimists. From all over the world came the most tenacious of the human race. The ones willing to take on an adventure on the hopes of a fresh start. A new continent where we could start the next renaissance. We believed we could do it, against all odds, and we were right.
You know, a lot of people say that other countries hate us right now. I don’t think that’s true. The world sees America as a wild card. We’ve got the potential for such greatness, they’re disappointed when we squander it.
What makes America romantic is the notion that anyone can reach for a dream and have a shot. That’s what defines us. In practice as well as concept. It’s where our sense of national pride comes from.
America has become a giant machine of immense power that is driving the course of history. The president is the man at the wheel, then man who says “yes” or “no” to that power. His answer’s should correspond to the general will of the populace he represents. To me, that’s the president.
An American president clipped coupons.
An American president balanced a checkbook.
An American president didn't always fill his gas tank all the way.
An American president’s insurance didn’t cover a trip to the emergency room.
An American president has said goodbye to friends as they went off to war.
An American president knows what a gallon of milk costs for ****s sake.
For the first time in a long time, I am proud to be an American, and I’ll be proud to vote for Obama.
‘Nuff said.
-on my honeymoon!
Thats right ladies, I´m off the market :p
While I´m here I´m compiling a new catalogue of images and textures for the comic, and I´m hoping by the time I get back, Joe will have my computer up and running again (I fried the capacitors on my motherboard.)
I plan to have finished two more issues by this time next year, in time for ComicCon 2009, so expect to start seeing new pages in July. These three issues will complete the Prologue, and will be published together as a graphic novel, as Diamond Distributors recomended.
With luck, they´ll pick it up, and maybe, just maybe, I´ll go national.
That´s all for now. From the heart of Bohemia, this is a newly cultured Shawn Weixelman, signing off.
/EDIT
I notice Joe added a casting call banner add on the right. I also notice it doesnt work :p
Click HERE if you´re interested in joining the cast.
